September 2019

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) approved a $70.833 billion funding bill to support law enforcement, economic prosperity, scientific research, space exploration, and other national priorities. The FY2020 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which is $6.715 billion above the FY2019 enacted level, funds the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and related agencies. 

The broad language of Section 230 should not be interpreted in a way that gives platforms that host third-party content a special exemption from laws that apply to businesses generally, or creates an exemption from the kinds of health, safety, public interest, and economic regulation that governments at every level—from federal agencies to municipalities–engage in. To be clear at the outset, this does not mean that any and all regulations a government may want to enforce are good ideas. Some of them might be. Others might be terrible.